It all began with signs of things to come.
Some may disagree with me but in the world of sport I have been well organised. I have captained and coached several teams and generally know what is what. But the early days of embarking on a voyage into the individual sport of triathlon proved I had a whole different side.
It started before it even started. I made the commitment on a boozy night in May of 2012 (how many others can say the same), by entering a novice triathlon in August in Ringwood, Sussex. Smartphones are wonderful things but they do allow you to do things on the spur of the moment. It was only the next day that I looked at my different capabilities:
I was pretty sure I could swim two lengths front crawl without having a cardiac arrest. Any more was questionable.
I only had a hybrid bike that I got for my birthday. My bike skills before that mainly involved the Grifter I had in the 1980's.
I could run a bit, but this was based on two 10km races completed when challenged by my brothers and dad. My fitness was all about chasing a ball over short distances and nothing to do with endurance.
A fundamentally low base. Throw into that my new found muppetry and things were bound to be interesting.
Two weeks later and I was laid on a chiropractors table with a seriously locked up lower back. When playing hockey I had always done a full warm up before the game with the lads in the team. Of course now, despite knowing all the sports science, I was just jumping on a bike or just leaping out of the door for a run. My body didn't like it. The muppet tendencies had started even before I had got near a race.
Was this such a good idea, I thought. Then my mate Andy called and told me he had entered the race as well having heard all my bravado and enthusiasm. No backing out now.....
Triathlon Muppet
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